Triptych: Archeology

The three books which make up my triptych are Archeology by Jane McIntosh, The Emperor’s Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China by Jane O’Connor, and Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay. These three books are tied together by a central theme of archeology and range across reading and age levels from elementary school up through young adult. Archeology and The Emperor’s Silent Army are both non-fiction books, one presenting an overview of what archeology is, the other presenting an in-depth example of an archeological site. Motel of the Mysteries is a fun fiction book set in the distant future, with archeologists uncovering an “ancient” burial site which dates to around 1985.

Archeology belongs to the popular “Eyewitness” series of informational juvenile literature. Pictures are given just as much, if not more, space as the words on each page, and each set of pages is a separate aspect of the field being studied. Rarely do sections extend to more than two pages. The text is largely limited to concise explanations of subject groupings (such as “Walking among the past” which presents architectural archeological sites, or “Preserved by Ice” which describes one of the environmental conditions in which archeological sites are preserved in and what might be found in such sites) and is then expanded upon by the lengthy captions to each picture. Pictures abound in Eyewitness books. Models, photographs, documents, and artifacts are splashed across the pages, each item different and fascinating. In Archeology, pictures range from the tools of an archeologist, to vases and statues, to cave paintings and jewelry found in burial chambers, to fossilized remains of human sacrifices. There is truly something for every child in this book.

This book is an excellent, simple overview of the field of archeology. Archeology could be read by a reluctant reader who struggles with large blocks of text but is less intimidated by short sections combined with lots of pictures. Each page has a surprising amount of textual information available, but children might initially be attracted to the picture next to it and read to find out more about the picture. Eyewitness books are a fun way to present children with a lot of educational information without overwhelming them. Additionally, for an older child performing a research project, the books are divided into sections which are not dependent on the rest of the book, but can stand alone.

The Emperor’s Silent Army is a book describing the recently discovered (1974) archeological site of a Chinese emperor’s burial tomb, containing an army of life-size terracotta soldiers. This book is set up in a chapter format, each chapter dealing with a different aspect of the tomb; the recent discovery of the tomb, the first emperor of China who wanted the tomb, the crafting of the tomb’s contents, and the actual burial chambers. Less attention is paid to the items found in the tombs and more to the reason the tomb was created as it was, and the way it was created. An entire chapter is devoted to Qin Shihuang (the tomb's owner), his life and conquering of several kingdoms in what is now modern China, his forced standardization of money and language, and especially his desire for immortality. It is in chapters such as this that we are subtly introduced to ancient Chinese beliefs and traditions surrounding afterlife and burial. We also learn about why an emperor would want a terracotta army to be buried with him (the common belief at the time was the you could take it with you when you died, and that the terracotta troops would protect the emperor against his enemies for eternity), how a living army would have been organized, what the different soldiers wore and what weapons they wielded, even why the tails of chariot horses were braided.

This book is an excellent history book in its treatment of the facts we have about the first emperor of China, and is also an excellent introduction into some aspects of ancient Chinese culture, presenting everything in clear sentences easy for an elementary school student to absorb. Pictures take precedence over text in this book, which is perhaps to be expected when presenting an unfamiliar culture to inexperienced readers, and take the place of longwinded, detailed descriptions of the items found. The story-like descriptions in the text keep the book interesting for young readers.

Motel of the Mysteries is a book by David Macauly, of Pyramid and Cathedral fame. Set in the year 4022, it tells the story of the accidental discovery of a burial chamber on the buried continent of North America, which has been buried since November 29th, 1985, under tons of fallen atmospheric impurities and junk mail fliers. This book is a fun read as it tells the story of Howard Carson, amateur archeologist, his excavation of Tomb 26, and his interpretation of the ancient artifacts found within. What makes this book so much fun is how wrong the archeologists are about everything. Tomb 26 is an ordinary motel room, and all of the burial accoutrements to which he attaches symbolic meanings and rites to are ordinary household objects like flush toilets, shower caps, and televisions.

This book would be nothing without its pictures, as the text never tells the reader what Howard has really found. I remember reading this book as a child of eight or nine years, and giggling at the picture of a research assistant modeling the Sacred Collar and Headband, really the toilet seat and “sanitized for your protection” seal. As an older reader, I found more subtle jokes, such as shoes being interpreted as coin holders, and the names of the mistaken motel being revealed as “Toot’n’C’mon”, a clear play on King Tutankhamen’s burial chamber’s discovery. This book is especially useful as a tool for attracting the attention of students: it presents their modern world from the view of future archeologists and how they might view it. It also, and more importantly, presents in a humorous and exaggerated way a point that students must keep in mind: archeologists can be wrong. They can misinterpret the significance or use of objects that they find, and without more information to back up their finds they might never know the truth behind their findings.

These three books taken together provide three different purposes in a reader’s exploration of archeology. From an overview of archeology as a complete process and field, to an in-depth description of one archeological site, to a silly fictional story about future archeologists who get it all wrong, these three books provide progressively more complex steps to a child’s understanding of uncovering the past.


Macaulay, David. Motel of the Mysteries. Scholastic; New York. 1979.
McIntosh, Jane. Archeology. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc; New York. 1994.
O’Connor, Jane. The Emperor’s Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China. Viking; New York. 2002.